Multiple lane air doffer



Feb. 1954 R. L. SJOSTROM MULTIPLE LANE AIR DOFFER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledSept. 6, 1951 JNVENTOR. 301mm. L Qjoalmm Feb. 16, 1954 R. L. SJOSTROM2,669,340

MULTIPLE LANE AIR DOFFER Filed Sept. 6, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Patented Feb. l6, I954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MULTIPLE LANE AIRDOFFER Robert L. Sjostrom, Lawrence, Mass. Application September 6,1951, Serial No. 245,397

13 Claims.

The present invention relates to an improvement in automatic multipleair doifers, more particularly to such apparatus used in conveying andstacking on a collecting rack, textile articles or units supplied fromsheet tearing, laundering or similar machines.

In the present invention, a plurality of air dofiing units each having adifierent number of sections are operated in the same frame, so that themachine may be used to receive textile articles from sheet tearing,laundering r folding machines having difiering numbers of lanes.

In this invention the textile article or unit is passed from the sheettearing, laundering ma-- chine, etc., over their several lanes to thecorresponding endless conveyor belts of the air doffer from which theyare doffed to the collector rack of the doiier through the operation ofa plurality of air blasts electrically controlled by the travel of thetextile article over the conveyor belts.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a simplearrangement for selective operation of a multiple air (latter fortearing machines having difierent numbers of lanes by a single controlvariation.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide anaccurate adjustable means for controlling the timing of the air blastsand the duration of the air blasts with reference to the position of thetextile article on the conveyor belt and the speed of travel of theconveyor belt.

These and other objects of my invention will appear when considered inconjunction with the drawings showing an embodiment of the invention, inwhich:

Figure 1 is an elevation showing an embodiment of my new machine capableof being used with a four lane or a five lane conveyor system.

Figure 2 is a side elevation viewed from the left end of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a schematic view of the electrical and pneumatic system ofthe present invention, and;

Figure 4 shows a detail of the adjustable supporting means for theoperating switches.

The description in this specification will be confined to an air doifercapable of stacking textile units from machines having either four orfive lanes.

However it is to be understood that this invention is not confined to adoffer for a four and five lane unit, but may be applied to anycombination of multiple lane units. 1

Referring now to Figure l and Figure 2, a pair of parallel rollers 4 and5 are journalled in the end sections 2 and 3 of the frame I and extendlengthwise of the whole frame along both top sides thereof.

These rollers support a series of parallelly positioned endless conveyorbelts 6 which extend around both rolls and form a conveyor table whichis sufliciently high so that the textile articles from the deliveringmachine, whatever it may be, will slide onto the conveyor table. Thebelts B are all driven by the rollers 4 and 5, one or both of which maybe driven at the end by a sprocket wheel or pulley driven by a chain orbelt from a motor which elements are conventional and not shown in thedrawings.

supported on the base of the frame is a pneumatic tank 23 which suppliesthe air over the tube 40 to the valve 22, the operation or which iscontrolled by the control handle 24. The valve 24 has two main outletlines I9 and 2|, each extending lengthwise along the air doffer forsupplying air to the perforated dofier pipe sections. The feed line 2|which controls the four lane section of the doffer, has four branches20, 20, 20, 20, which connect to individual sections I6, I6, I6, I6,aligned with one another but partitioned and separated by separators IT,IT, IT. The outer sections are capped by end caps 9 and II and the wallassembly is supported in a fixed position on the frame in any suitablemanner.

The supply line I9 is similarly provided with branch sections I 8, ofwhich there are five in number, and which go each to one section of thefive lane doiler blast section pipes. These are also separated one fromthe other by partition elements l5, and are capped at the extreme endsby end caps III, III.

The air blast sections for the five lane division, each have pairs ofoperating switches 8, 8, etc., which are positioned somewhere in thecentral region between the ends of each air blast section between theconveyor belts, preferably substantially at a mid-point between the endsof each air blast section. Pairs of operating switches 1 are alsopositioned between the conveyor belts, each pair between the ends of thesections 01' the four section blast pipes I6 and preferably positionedmid-way between the ends of each section. All these operating switcheshave fine rods or wires projecting somewhat above the conveyor belts 6extending from sensitive switches 4|, which are shown diagrammaticallyin Figure 3. These switches may be microswitches or some suchmechanically operated electrical switch which operates sharply and accurately with a very lightmechanical force. 1

The mounting and adjustable support for the switches 4| are indicated inFigure 4. Two supporting bars 42, 42, extend lengthwise across the framefrom the two upper supporting pieces 43. A series of cross supportingrods 44 extend parallel to one another across from one of the bars 7 42to the other. These cross bars carry slidable collar brackets to whichthe switches 4| are secured and mounted. The collars 45 may be slidalong the rods 44' and tightened in position by set screws 46 passingthrough the collar and setting against the rods 44. Since the switchesare positioned between the conveyor belts, it 'is switches, and inaddition thereto there-'are' twocontact elements to andtb and la and lbwhich are a part of each switch.

In Figure 3 it is assumed that the textile article will be travelling inthe direction. of the arrow A, in which case the electrical contact madebetween the arm 8 and contact 812 will be opened as soon as the textilearticle swings the arm 8 in a clockwise direction as viewedin Figure 3on the pivot 41. This contact'will remain open .until the textilearticle is clear of the armt. The contact between the other arm 8 andthe contact point So will be closed when the textile article swings thisarm 8 to the right. The result is, that while the textile article ispassing over the pair of arms 8, 8, the circuit to the'solenoid 48 willremain open because the switch is in the power lines 21 and 28 and hasat least one of two series contacts open. When however the rear edge ofthe textile article leaves, in its course, the first arm 8, the contactwith 8b will be completed and the circuit remain closed during the timeinterval'that it takes the end of the article to clear the secondcontact 8. This circuit will be completed to the valve solenoid 43 whichoperates the individual valves 49 for sending the air blast through theperforations 50 of each air'blast 3 section.

It will be noted that each one of the switches 4| have their firstcontact normally closed and their second contact normally opened bymeans of the springs 3'! and 39 respectively. Some means such as thestops 5| may be used to limit the motion of the switch elements 8against springs so that normally these switch elements, rods or wires,will be in an upward position to engage the textile articles as theypass on the conveyor belts. The circuit for the solenoid 48 is completedfrom a supply source 52 through the switch 9 on one side, and the supplyline switch arm 33, the line 53, the line 21 to the individual switch4|, then over one of the parallel lines 54 to the solenoid 48 throughthe'return parallel section 55 to the return line 28 and back to thesource 52. v

The switch 9 and the air control switch22 are operated in synchronism tocontrol the desired set of switches andair blast sections. In theposition indicated in Figure 3, the group of switches 8 are in operationtogether with the air blast sections M to which the air input feed 40 isconnected through the supply line l9. When the switch 9 is turnedcounter-clockwise together with the valve 22 (Figure 3) the arm 33 makes7 contact with the contact stud34 and air supply is connected to thefeed line 2| Under these conditions, the blast sections l6 will beoperated 4 through the individual solenoid valves 56 and the air valves26 which are controlled by them.

The switches 4| are positioned along the conveyor belt line, so that thetextile article will already have dropped down to the right side of thedoifer as viewed in Figure 2 in front of the air blast pipes l4 or l6,when the air blast is turned The positioning and timing are readilyadjusted sothat the air blast will blow the textile article on to therack 21 which extends lengthwise across the doffer.

The operation of the system readily follows from the description whichhas been given above.

It is quite apparent that the presence of the switches and pipes for theoperation of a five lane system will not interfere with those for theoperation of a six lane system. In a similar fashion, a three lanesystem could be added to the present invention without any greatdifliculty, so that a number of multiple lane dofiers may beincorporated in the same apparatus. It would only be necessary in such acase to provide a selector switch and valve for selecting any one of theoperating systems.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. An automatic dofier for accommodating different multiple lane textileunit delivering devices, comprising a conveyor adapted to be positionedto receive textile units from the delivery devices, a plurality of airblast units positioned behind the textile units delivered from theconveyor and arranged across the doffer in groups correspondingrespectively to the number of multiple lanes to be accommodated, aplurality of electrical switching means positioned at intervals acrossthe conveyor corresponding one to each air blast unit and adapted to beoperated by a textile unit for operating the air blast, the switchingmeans and its corresponding air blast unit being aligned in the samedirection as the motion of said conveyor.

2. An automatic doiier comprising a conveyor, a plurality of air blastelements arranged in sets, each set for handling a different number oflanes of textile units as received on the conveyor, the elements of eachsaid set being in general alignment and positioned to face the textileunits when they leave the conveyor, switching means for each air blastelement having operating arms arranged in the lane of its correspondingair blast over said conveyor, and manually operable -:means forswitching from one air blast set to the other and for energizing thecorresponding switches associated therewith.

3. An automatic doffer for handling difierent numbers of lanes oftextile units as received by it, comprising a conveyor on which thetextile units are received in lanes, a plurality of air blast elementsarranged in sets across the dofier defining the lanes, switching meansfor each air blast unit positioned over the conveyor in its associatedlane, and selector means for selecting the desired switches and desiredset of air blast elements. I

4. An automatic doffer for handling diiierent numbers of lanes oftextile units as received by it, comprising a conveyor on which thetextile units are received in lanes, a plurality of air blast elementsarranged in sets across the doffer defining the'lanes, switching meanshaving operatingarms positioned over the conveyor in the path of thetextile unitsone for eachassociated lane, and :fselector means forselecting the desired switches and desired sets of air blast elements.

5. An automatic doffer for handling different numbers of lanes oftextile units as received by it, comprising a conveyor on which thetextile units are received in lanes, a plurality of air blast elementsarranged in sets across the doffer defining the lanes, a pair ofswitches having operating arms in alignment in each lane having an airblast unit associated therewith, and selector means for selecting thedesired switches and desired set of air blast elements.

6. An automatic doffer for handling different numbers of lanes oftextile units as received by it, comprising a conveyor on which thetextile units are received in lanes, a plurality of air blast elementsarranged in sets across the doifer defining the lanes, a pair ofswitches having operating arms in alignment in each lane having an airblast unit associated therewith and manually operating means forsimultaneously energizing the switches and the air blast sectionsassociated therewith for the desired set of lanes to be used.

7. An automatic dofier for handling different numbers of lanes oftextile units as received by it, comprising a conveyor on which thetextile units are received in lanes, a plurality of air blast elementsarranged in sets across the dofi'er defining the lanes, a pair ofswitches having operating arms in alignment in each lane having an airblast unit associated therewith and manually operating means forsimultaneously energizlng the switches and the air blast sectionsassociated therewith for the desired set of lanes to be used, an airvalve for each of said air blast elements, electrical means foroperating the same, connected each in switches whereby the spacing ofsaid switches and the rate of travel of said textile unit will regulatethe length of said air blast.

8. An automatic dofier for handling different numbers of lanes oftextile units as received by it, comprising a conveyor on which thetextile units are received in lanes, a plurality of air blast elementsarranged in sets across the doifer defining the lanes, said conveyorcomprising a plurality of parallel endless belts spaced apart one fromthe other, a pair of switches having operating arms extending upwardbetween adjacent conveyor belts, one pair of said switches for each airblast unit corresponding to the lane in which both said air blast unitand said switches are positioned, and selector means for selecting thedesired switches and desired set of air blast elements.

9. An automatic doffer for handling different numbers of lanes oftextile units as received by it, comprising a conveyor on which thetextile units are received in lanes, a plurality of air blast elementsarranged in sets across the dofier defining the lanes, a pair ofswitches having ope series with a pair of said erating arms in alignmentin each lane having an air blast unit associated therewith and manuallyoperating means for simultaneously energizing the switches and the airblast sections associated therewith for the desired set of lanes to beused, an air valve for each of said air blast elements, electrical meansfor operating the same, connected each in series with a pair of saidswitches whereby the spacing of said switches and the rate of travel ofsaid textile unit will regulate the length of said air blast, and meansfor separating each switch, making up a pair for adjusting the durationof said air blast.

10. An automatic air dofier for textile materials adapted to be movablypositioned at the end of a textile delivery device delivering parallellyconveyed textile sheet elements comprising an endless conveyor of awidth substantially that of the delivery device adapted to formsubstantially a continuation of the delivery device, said conveyorhaving spaced parallel belts, electrical means positioned betweendifierent spaced parallel belts operated by the textile sheet elementspassing over the same, a receiving support, a plurality of air blastunits positioned behind the textile sheet elements delivered from theconveyer and arranged across the dofier at a lower level than theconveyor and operably connected one to each of said electrical meanswhereby as the textile sheet elements fall downward from the conveyor bygravity they will be individually blown onto said receiving support.

11. A device as in claim 10 in which said electrical means includes aseries of spaced switch fingers arranged between conveyor belts atspaced intervals across the conveyor, each said spaced fingerscontrolling one of said air blast units for independent operationaccording to the feed of said textile sheet elements.

12. A device as in claim 11 in which said spaced fingers are arranged inpairs linearly behind one another along the conveyor belts and meansoperated thereby as a part of said electrical means whereby the durationof the air blast will be regulated.

13. A device as in claim 11 in which said spaced fingers are arranged inpairs linearly behind one another along the conveyor belts with meansfor adjusting the distance between the elements of a pair as a means ofregulating the duration of the air blast.

ROBERT L. SJOSTROM.

References Cited in the file of this patent

